Mahler: Symphony No 6

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/ Antonio Pappano EMI Classics 084 4132 (2 CDs)*****

Mahler said of his Sixth Symphony that it would "pose riddles that only a generation that has absorbed and digested my first five symphonies may hope to solve". Perhaps. But this new recording, made at concerts in Rome last January, has a clarity of vision that would surely have gripped and enthralled the audiences of the composer's own time. Antonio Pappano's approach is what you might call high-resolution and measured. Without dallying, he creates the impression that there's time for every smallest detail to register. The orchestral playing is splendid, and the overall effect is less that of the personal that's often found (probably inspired by the sobriquet Tragic) than of an altogether more powerful universality. Highly recommended. See url.ie/57cs